Men accused of killing three at 2021 graduation party outside Kendall club, denied bond

More than two years ago, police say, a gang feud escalated to a shooting at a graduation party in Kendall that led to three deaths and several injuries. In April, after a lengthy search, police arrested three men they believe stalked the party, then fired indiscriminately at the crowd outside the venue.

This week, a judge denied requests to release the men on bond, saying it could put their lives and the community’s in danger and that they will remain behind bars until an expected trial begins.

“The state has met its burden,” Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Lody Jean said after a two-day hearing to determine a possible pre-trial release. “This is a shooting in a crowded place. Three innocent people lost their lives.”

Jeremy Devine, 22, Willie Thomas, 21 and Melchizedek Matthews, 21, attended Tuesday’s hearing handcuffed and in prison garb. Family members and friends in the packed chamber looked on. Denying bond to suspects facing the death penalty or life in prison is standard in Miami-Dade Courts, though it’s often denied during something called an Arthur Hearing, in which family members suggest a bond amount and plead for release.

Miami-Dade state prosecutors believe the three men were responsible for the shooting that claimed the lives of William Everett Jr., 23, Jahem Tyrese Ziegler, 18, and Miami-Dade corrections officer Tyleisha Taylor, 21 — though no evidence has emerged to suggest any of the three were actual targets.

The state’s theory is that Everett and Ziegler’s white Camry was shot up accidentally because the suspects were looking for a similar vehicle. They believe Taylor, who was sitting in her car when she was killed, was an unintended target.

Devine, Thomas and Matthews have all been charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, three counts of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and single counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Attorneys deny gang link

The shooting outside the Hookah Inn, at 10549 SW 109th Ct., took place in the early morning hours of June 6, 2021, just a week after another pair of mass shootings rocked Miami-Dade. leaving four dead and 26 others injured. Prosecutors say the Kendall shooting involved members of a Florida City gang known as the 700’s. The accused and their attorneys and families deny it.

Matthew’s attorney Richard Docobo said prosecutors seem to have made up their minds before fully investigating the shooting. “The investigation leading to my client’s arrest is a classic example of the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs of theories,” he said.

According to prosecutors and police, Devine, Thomas, Matthews and another man named Kelvin Durham, who hasn’t been charged, drove up in separate cars and stalked the Hookah Inn, almost across the street from Miami-Dade College and where students from a graduation party had gathered. Durham was in the passenger seat of a black Kia driven by Matthews. While Thomas and Devine drove up in a Nissan Altima.

Police say the three defendants, after a discussion, opened fire. Taylor was killed in her car. Everett, driving a Camry similar to one police say the men were looking for, was shot and killed. Ziegler, in the passenger seat, was killed when the Camry then hit a brick wall at high speed.

Gathering enough evidence to charge Devine, Thomas and Matthews, proved a tough task at first. Eventually, by creating a timeline with the help of eye witnesses and using cellphone tower technology, GPS, surveillance cameras and SunPass records, detectives say they cobbled together enough evidence to determine the three conspired to kill. Durham, the starting quarterback at the historically Black college Fort Valley State, testified during the pre-trial hearing the three others discussed shooting at some in the crowd — though he claimed to have not seen them and didn’t explain why.

When the three were taken into custody on April 21, Miami-Dade leaders gathered to offer condolences. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she hoped the affected families would get the justice they deserved. Police Director Alfredo “Freddie” Ramirez said he hears “the cries of mothers in the street.” Matthews was arrested in Fort Meyers. Thomas was found and taken into custody in Atlanta and Devine was arrested in Miami-Dade.

Prosecutors also say Devine was shot in the back the night of the shooting, likely from the return of gunfire, and drove to Homestead Hospital. They also say they have what a recording of Devine seated in the back of a patrol car with another one of the suspects, saying, “They ain’t got shit. It took them a whole two years to build a case.”

During the pre-trial release hearing, Thomas’s attorney Robert Lamons also cast doubt on Durham’s statement, saying he’d been caught lying three separate times. The attorney also pointed out that no forensic evidence or weapons were found in Thomas and Durham’s Altima.

“How can we believe anything Kelvin Durham has told this court?” asked Lamons. “I would suggest that his credibility is shot.”